


when you think of me years down the line

by cchascona



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, First Meetings, Post-Battle of Yavin (Star Wars), Unlikely Friendships, set between ANH and ESB, speculations about past events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26783605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cchascona/pseuds/cchascona
Summary: After he and Luke had received their medals, there had been another ceremony, honoring the Rebellion’s fallen soldiers, the ones who had stolen the Death Star plans and saved the galaxy. Since all of them had died in Scarif, it was just a holo showing their faces while General Ackbar read out their names.Han was more than a little surprised to recognize one of them
Relationships: Jyn Erso & Han Solo, Leia Organa & Han Solo
Comments: 17
Kudos: 52





	when you think of me years down the line

After the ceremony, the medal sits heavily against Han’s chest. 

The smuggler in him wonders how much it would be worth, how many credits he could get out of it if he were to sell it to the right buyer in the many black markets of the galaxy. Another part of him, a part he had buried deep inside himself, but had been dragged back up by a farm boy and a loud mouthed princess is impossibly proud of being deemed worthy of something like this, and Han Solo knows that no matter what happens in his life, no matter how much trouble he gets himself into, he will never be parted from this medal. 

After he and Luke had received their medals, there had been another ceremony, honoring the Rebellion’s fallen soldiers, the ones who had stolen the Death Star plans and saved the galaxy. Since all of them had died in Scarif, it was just a holo showing their faces while General Ackbar read out their names, and Han was more than a little surprised to recognize one of them. 

At the princess’s insistence, a memorial is built for them. In the already crammed base on Yavin IV, there’s not room for anything more than a wall where their pictures hung next to the medals they never got to receive. This is where the princess finds him, a few days later.

“That’s sargeant Erso” she says, when she notices which portrait he had been looking at. 

“Erso, as in the guy who built - ”

“Sergeant Erso gave her life to the Rebellion” Leia interrupts him, voice firm, but not angry “She rightened her father’s mistakes. She was a hero”.

There’s a finality in Leia’s voice that leaves no room for arguments (not that he had any) so Han just turns his head back to the wall. Leia does the same, but she fixes her eyes on the picture to Erso’s left, of an Intelligence officer with a stone face and scruffy beard, with a strange look in her eyes. There must be something showing in his face too, because he can see the princess looking at him from the corner of his eye , her eyebrow quirked in curiosity. 

“Did you know her?”

In any other situation, Han would smirk at her, ask if it was jealousy that he was hearing in her question, but he can’t find it in himself to do it. 

Truth is, he hadn’t known her, at least not as Jyn Erso. 

He had met her in a dirty Cantina in Coruscant, where Jabba had sent him to meet his new contact. It was without a doubt one of the worst places Han had ever been to, and was saying a lot. It was the sort of place where the scum of the galaxy went to prey on the truly desperate or the thoroughly rotten, those willing to do any job, no questions asked. 

Having a seven foot tall Wookie at his side and a blaster on his hip usually meant people would be smart enough to leave him alone, so that’s why when he saw a small frame getting closer him and taking the stool next to him from the corner of his eye, he had been too astounded to promptly tell them to piss off. Instead, he had twisted in his stool to take a better look at whoever it was that had been bold (or stupid) enough to sit next to them. 

As it turned out, it was a human girl, just a kid really, no older than eighteen. Han had known instinctively that she was nowhere near old enough to be there, but he also knew that if she had lived the sort of life that had led her to end up in this sort of place on her own, then a little bit of underaged drinking was the least of her problems. 

She had glared at him, as if challenging him to say something, with her big, piercing green eyes, that made him feel oddly exposed but at the same time emphasized how young she really was. But he was no babysitter so he’d just rolled her eyes at her and shrugged her off. 

It would be an exaggeration to say that what followed was a conversation; he knew that what little that girl was saying were lies, but he didn’t mind it one bit. This was not the place where one could be careless with personal information, and even if it was, neither of them was the type of person to willingly offer pieces of themselves to complete strangers. 

Besides, Han Solo knew a survivor when he saw one, and Kestrel Dawn was just that, no matter what name she wore, so if she wanted to keep her business to herself, he could respect that. 

Still, Han could sense a weariness to her, like he had only seen in people decades older, and walls too thick around her, even for someone in her situation. Beneath all that, he also saw a will to keep fighting, a fire trying its best to keep burning inside of her, despite her best efforts. 

Han wondered if he would have seen it, if he weren’t trying to smother the same thing inside himself too. 

Eventually, his contact showed up, and she found herself a job too, and they’d parted ways. He’d raised his glass to her in goodbye as she had left her seat to go negotiate with some sketchy looking cereans in the back of the Cantina, and she had grinned at them, when Chewie had growled at her to be careful, and that had been it. 

She was honestly one of the last people he’d picture getting involved with the Rebel Alliance, much less to earn a rank among them become one of its heroes. 

But then again, there _he_ was, so what the hell did he know. 

“Nah, I didn’t” Han finally answers, because it’s the truth. He hadn’t even thought about her in years. 

That’s why he tells himself that whatever it is that he is feeling upon learning of her death is misplaced. It’s incredibly stupid, especially for him, to feel this bad for someone he had known for one night. 

But still, he can’t help but feel the pang on his chest when he remembers the strong set of her shoulders as she had walked away, following her new employer out of the cantina. She had looked like she could take down an entire army, with nothing but the sheer determination in her eyes and a blaster in her hands.

He had been so sure then that she would make it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Han and Jyn still mean everthing to me, and I find very unlikely that they never met pre-RO. I started thinking about them, and this was the result.
> 
> Please leave me a comment telling me what you think, and you can find me [on my tumblr](https://eatsleepandsing.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk!


End file.
